A Swirling Darkness
by xoanna21
Summary: She thought she was ready for anything. R&R first fanfiction. rated T to be safe. Might change. Disclaimer: Don't own em.
1. Chapter 1

It was dark

It was dark. It was dark and cold. Detective Olivia Benson was in a position she had never prepared herself for. She fought perps everyday and brought them to justice. She took care of the victims. She cared about what she did. She loved and hated her job and most of all she thought she was ready for anything. She was wrong.

--

"Hey Elliot have you seen Olivia this weekend?" Fin said walking into the office.

Elliot glanced at the desk across from his. It was empty. Thinking back he had not seen or heard from Olivia since she left Friday. "No actually, I haven't seen her since Friday. Have you tried calling her?"

"Yeah. She's not picking up her cell. I just tried her home phone."

"What?" Olivia didn't just ignore her phone. She always picked it up. Usually in record time.

"Well since she's late today I was gonna head over and see whats up. Do you wanna come?"

"Yeah. Give me two minutes to print this report and grab my coat. _Something is really wrong here. Olivia doesn't just skip work._

Fifteen minutes later they were in front of her apartment building.

"Olivia open up its Fin." Fin was knocking on the door.

"I've got a key Fin." Elliot said quickly slipping the key into the lock.

"Wow, when did she decide to trust you with a key." Fin joked.

"Is that any of your business?" Elliot gave a half smile and pushed on the door.

The lights in her apartment were off. Fin switched the lights on.

"Looks like she hasn't been home in a while." Fin said surveying the room quickly. The bed looked un-slept in and the answering machine on her phone was blinking.

Elliot shook his head in disbelief. The whole apartment was empty. It was like Olivia had just up and left without telling anyone. But that wasn't like her. She would never not turn up at work. Nothing fit.

"Hey Liv its Fin. Cap was just wondering why you were late. Better get here soon before he starts getting angry. Decided to try your home phone because you weren't picking up your cell. Call Cragen. Oh yeah Casey says they need you for the Cortman case, so you should contact her today. Soon if you don't want to piss her off." Elliot whipped around to see Fin looking down at the answering machine.

"No new messages. Check erased messages…"

"El she's not here…" Fin looked startled. "It looks like she hasn't been home in a while…"

--

Cragen surveyed around the squad room. Elliot and Fin had gone to Olivia's to see why she was still not here. It just wasn't like her.

"Captain." Cragen turned around to see Munch. The look on Munch's face was not what he had hoped to see. "They can't seem to find Olivia. Her apartment looks like it hasn't been touched all weekend."

Cragen sighed. This was not what they needed. "Call Fin and Elliot and tell them to get down here."

Twenty minutes later they were all in Cragen's office. As he looked over the detective in front of him he saw the same protective look in each one of their eyes. Suddenly he realized that his crew had over the past couple years become a family. There was an unspoken code among them. They were there for each other and they cared. They really cared about the cases, the victims, catching the perp, but most of all, they cared about each other. When the possibility of one of their own getting hurt arises they cannot help but worry and he knew, as their captain, that they would fight like hell. No matter what.

"Guys…. Something is wrong here." Cragen started not really knowing what he should say.

Cragen's phone rang and everyone jumped. Without really thinking about it he looked down at the caller's ID. It was Olivia's phone. Quickly he snapped open his phone.

"Olivia!"

"Well well captain we finally get a chance to talk." A gravely, deep voice came across the phone. "Put your phone on speaker and we can chat with all of your detectives."

--

Olivia groaned as she felt the world spinning. _What's going on. Where am I?_ Olivia's eyes shot open as she tried to sit up. She couldn't move. After a couple minutes she realized that her arms were stuck above her head. Suddenly everything came back to her. Saying goodbye to everyone at the office, stepping into the bar for a drink, getting to her room and opening her door to a stranger with a gun, and a dull pain in the back of her head. Then darkness.

Breathing deeply Olivia surveyed her surroundings. She was sitting in a small room on an unfamiliar bed. The only light came from a little lamp sitting beside the bed.

_Who's bed. How long had I been out._

"Glad you woke up Princess." An unfamiliar man was standing in the doorway. No, it was the man from her apartment. "I just made a phone call. Do you want to talk with your little detective buddies?"

Olivia's eyes widened.

_What was going on here and who was her captor? _

"Who is this?" Cragen demanded into the phone.

All the detectives were crammed around the phone listening to a call coming from their missing co-worker's… no missing friend's phone.

"C-Captain…" Olivia struggled to say without moving too much for fear of touching her skin to the knife now at her neck.

"Oliva!"

"What's going on?"

"Where are you?"

"Who's the guy with you?"

All The detectives struggled to talk at once.

"Shut up!" The gravelly voice came across the phone again. " Do you want me to kill her?"

There was a sudden hush in the room. Nobody moved, nobody breathed, nobody wanted to hurt Olivia.

Cragen silently grabbed the cable off his desk and plugged the phone into his computer. He then sat down and started up the software that recorded and tracked the phone call. The phone call that might cost one of his best detectives her life.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

--

"Good." The man said smiling down at Olivia. He pushed the knife ever so lightly across the side of her neck. His grin grew as the blood ran down her neck onto her chest. Such beautiful blood. "My, my Olivia, Isn't your blood beautiful."

"What do you want?" Elliot asked over the phone, a hint of panic now in his voice. He was looking over his captain's shoulder at the computer screen.

"I've already got what I want, your dear detective. I'm only making this call because a friend of mine asked me to." He said this quietly as he pulled the silver knife blade ever so slowly across the skin on Olivia's arm, staining it red.

A small gasp of pain escaped Olivia's lips as her captor cut the skin on her arms. Trying to ignore the pain she fought the handcuffs keeping her stuck to the bed. She moved her right arm, as her left was now bleeding heavily, up and down in an attempt to free the arm stuck above her head. She was oblivious to the pain.

"Well I'm just going to play with my new friend while the drug kicks in." The man says pulling out a siring.

"No… no please don't." Oliva whispered. "Don't!"

The slap could be heard through the phone. All the detectives stopped pacing the room, and stared at the phone.

"Stop." Elliot yelled. "Stop hurting her."

"Don't worry detectives. I'll take good care of her." The man said grinning at the look of pure terror on Olivia's face. "You may be strong Olivia but you are still human and I'll find a way to break you."

Olivia felt the needle enter her skin and fought. She fought like hell, more than ever because she was Olivia Benson. She was a cop, not a victim. But even she could not stop herself from giving into the drug and falling into the swirling darkness that awaited her.

--

The phone went dead and there was a second of silent shock.

"No." Elliot whispered. "There has got to be something we can do."

"We didn't get the trace…" Cragen said looking down at the computer screen. "That phone is untraceable. We are dealing with somebody who's experienced at this…" He looked over at Fin and John. They were staring at the phone in shock. They had _never _heard Olivia plead before. This couldn't be happening. Not to her, she can't be a victim.

"We'll get her back." Fin said suddenly. "C'mon Munch. Let's check out the apartment."

"I'll call CSU and get them over there. Look for fingerprints. Maybe on the door. Anything you didn't notice the first time you were there."

Cragen turned to Elliot. This had to be hard on him, not knowing where she was. He knew they were close, maybe closer than they should be but… he couldn't take Elliot off the case. He knew that if they lost Olivia, they lose Elliot as well. He just couldn't see Elliot coming back from that.

"Cap… I-I can handle it." Elliot said standing up shakily.

"Elliot, I know you can. I would normally take you off the case-"

Captain you can't!" Elliot interrupted.

"But in this circumstance, well we need you Elliot. You're a damn good detective and if we're going to find her in time we're going to need all the help we can get." He looked over Elliot carefully. Closer than he had looked at the man in a while. He had changed quite a bit since he first partnered up with Olivia. They brought out the best in each other, both in and out of the work place.

"I need you to stay here for now. I am going to release this story to the public and I need you to take tips for me." He held up his hand at the look on Elliot's face. "When we get something I will send you out."

"Th-thank you…" Elliot was amazed.

"And Elliot," Elliot turned to look at Cragen. "We are going to find her."

His throat tightened and he just nodded. He sat down at his desk and waited. The clock said it was 3:30. Olivia had been gone for more than 48 hour and they had not even noticed.

--

Munch knocked on the door. "Manhattan SVU open the door."

"What? What do you want?" Fin rolled his eyes as the grumpy tenant came to the door.

_Why hadn't they just taken the key from Elliot in the first place._

"We need you to open a door for us." Munch said as the old tenant grabbed his set of keys off the hook. "The door to Olivia Benson's apartment."

_It was the look on Elliot's face. The look on his face when Olivia moaned in pain. He was on the edge and they needed to get out before he went off the deep end._

Fin looked around the apartment. CSU was on its way up but the apartment didn't look disturbed at all. It was definitely unchanged since he was last here at least.

"Fin. Look at this." Munch said motioning over to Fin from the other side of the room.

Fin looked down and was startled to see a ring of dust around where a lamp was suppose to be on the table next to the couch.

"You know… I've never been to Olivia's apartment and I was really hoping this would not be the reason I was here. " Fin turned to see Warner walking into the apartment holding rubber gloves in one hand.

"We've got trouble downstairs boys." She said in an odd voice. A voice Fin had never heard her use before. Was it fear?

"What? What is it?" Munch said oblivious to the tone of voice she had just used.

"We found a body downstairs. Looks like Olivia's captor's been busy."

Fin's eyes widened. "I think I just found his weapon of choice." He said holding up the missing lamp. The bulb and shade were missing and half of it was covered in blood.

"Bag it." Melinda said sharply to one of the CSU guys. "You two, come with me to check out this body, there may be a connection."

Ten minutes later they were standing over the mangled body of a fifty year old white male.

"Henry Walker fifty years old. Lives in room 34C." Warner said. "He had I.D in his pocket and a key to the room."

Munch looked down at the remains of the unfortunate man. Most likely he was just killed to make a point and that was cruel. "Look." He Pointed to the man's fist and the little bit of paper poking out of it.

Fin reached down and took out the paper. His eyes flew over the paper as he read it.

_Henry Walker is just the beginning. Our games have barely started. You should stop worrying yourselves about your dear cop. She was just a warm-up._

_Cops before I'm done you'll all be victims_

_You've been warned._


	3. Chapter 3

It's cold

_It's cold. Please, just let me be. I need to sleep…_

Olivia came to slowly. Her eyes fluttered open to a dark, cold, loveless room. She frowned in concentration trying to remember. He had drugged her. This she knew for sure. She could still feel the effects of the drug, not yet fully worn off. Olivia struggled to sit up. The part of her that was panicking wanted to yell, to scream bloody murder but the cop in her knew that if she did that he would come back. And when he came back thing might get a whole lot worse.

She started to push the panicking side out of her head. There was another time to panic. For now she needed to find a way out. She was chained to a bed in a windowless room with the only door locked from the outside. Things did not look good. That was when she heard the footsteps.

"Aw is princess still tired?" Olivia's captor said a cruel smile on his face as he looked at his helpless victim. "Turns out that cops really are just humans that believe their above the law, above _death_."

"Please. What do you want with me?" Olivia said gently.

"Shut up bitch." He said slapping her across the face. "I'm just here to have some fun. Your blood really is beautiful." He smiled again, stroking her face with the flat part of his knife.

Olivia shuttered and closed her eyes, hoping that this nightmare would just go away. That she would wake up in the crib to Elliot yelling that they've had a break in a case and to get up. Anything. Anything but this.

He took a step closer and looked down on her. Her eyes flew open. Only a few more inches. Only a few more inches until she could fight back.

He took another step forward and she struck. She put all of her energy into that kick. It hit him square in the stomach and she could hear all the breath go from his lungs. He was thrown back but able to right himself before hitting the floor. "You'll regret that bitch." He said righting himself.

He grabbed a cup of water she had not previously noticed and sat down on the bed next to her. "Drink." He said.

She looked at his suspiciously. Why would he offer her something to drink? Olivia didn't, until seeing the swirling water in the cup, realize how thirsty she truly was. She considered the odds. It could be poisoned but that didn't make sense.

He shook his head impatiently. Ever so carefully he slid his knife to her throat again. "Drink." He said again.

Not having much of a choice she drank the water. When she was done he removed the cup from the room and undid his pants. "I don't want you passing out on me while I'm enjoying myself."

"No. Please don't." Olivia yelled now truly scared. She fought the handcuffs keeping her stuck to the bed, she fought to return the bone shattering blows now coming at her from all sides, but most of all Detective Olivia Benson fought being a victim.

After struggling for several minutes he managed to hit her shoulders with a force much stronger than Olivia was prepared for. Her head hit the headboard with a loud crack and Olivia was trapped in a haze of pain.

"no. no." Olivia whispered as she felt him pull her pants down. She tried everything but it wasn't until he was inside her that she realized how helpless she really was.

--

"Elliot come over here." Elliot looked over the faces of his co-workers. For the first time in a long time their faces were grim. It was like they were already planning the funeral.

"What have we got?" Cragen's voice was scratchy and his eyes full of sarrow and panic.

Munch taped the picture of Henry Walker on the board. "Henry Walker, fifty years old and lived in Olivia's building."

"He had a white van registered to his name but we were unable to find it." Fin added solemly. "We have so far assumed that the guy who kidnapped Olivia attacked, killed, and dumped him in the dumpster before taking the car as a getaway vehicle.

"We think that he used a lamp from Olivia's house as a weapon to attack her with. The lamp was covered in blood but there were no other traces of blood in the room." Munch said nodding to the second picture put up on the board. It was of the lamp.

"Our last bit of evidence came off of the first victim it was the note the perp left for us to find." Fin said this as he taped the note to the board.

_Henry Walker is just the beginning. Our games have barely started. You should stop worrying yourselves about your dear cop. She was just a warm-up._

_Cops before I'm done you'll all be victims_

_You've been warned._

"You're looking for somebody with a real hatred for anything police." George Huang said entering the room. "See how the cuts on Henry's Back are not deep. He was swiping at him probably randomly." He took a deep breath before going on. "It's most likely that he attacked Olivia taking her downstairs with him. He saw Henry get out of the car and attacked him, killing him and taking the car. He is probably a white male with a relative or friend in prison. It is also possible that he himself has been in prison."

"Why did he go after Olivia though?" Cragen asked trying to make his voice sound stronger than it was.

"It seems random. As though he attacked her just because she was a cop, not because he had anything against her in particular. By saying _She was just a warm-up_ he's telling you that the things he's done to her alone are not enough. That he wants more."

"Do-Do you think he wants her alive?" Munch asked pointedly looking away from Elliot so as to not see the look of pain on his face.

"Yes. For now. He wants to hurt her, hurt her like he has been hurt."

The detectives nod not sure whether that was a good thing… or a bad thing.

"Cragen. He has already proven himself to be violent. If she does or says something wrong he may lose his temper…"

--

"I can-can't believe anyone would want to hurt him." Alice Walker said through the tears running down her face. "he c-c-can't be dead. He can't be." And she burst into tears.

"I'm sorry for your loss Mrs. Walker." Fin tried not to fidget. It was obvious she didn't know anything and Olivia was still out there. "Please call us if you remember anything."

"Well that didn't help at all." Munch said as they walked out of the building.

"I agree. You know Olivia was always best at that." Fin sighed shaking his head. "She could always get a confession out of anyone. The perp to confess or the victim to talk about it."

"Get anything?" Elliot asked as he walked across the street.

"No man." Fin said shaking his head. "This guy was a pro. Nobody heard or saw anything."

"Yeah. Found the same stuff here." Elliot said sounding defeated. "Everyone's too wrapped up in their own lives to notice that something isn't right." He sighed. He had done the same thing. This monster had taken Olivia and nobody had noticed. They were all she had and they had failed to notice her absence. He couldn't shake the guilt building in his gut. This was all his fault.

"Tutuola." Fin open his phone. "Yeah... okay we'll be right there."

"Sounds like they found something." Munch said trying to keep the desperation out of his voice. He was strong. He was like a man of stone. He did not cry, he did not worry, and he never lost control. No matter what the situation is. Control was the only thing left. The only thing detective John Munch always had.

"They found three dead officers. Manhattan police. "

"Do they think there's a connection between them and Olivia's… situation?" Elliot asked looking strait forward, a pained look crossing his face when he heard Olivia's name. This couldn't be happening.

"There could be. The perp said he was after the police. He never specified what kind of police." Fin said opening the door to the drivers side of the car. "We can only hope for a clue."

Ten minutes later they drove into the parking lot filled with CSU. They flashed their badges and walked under the crime scene tape.

"They were stabbed at least ten times each." Warner said from her post beside the victims. "He meant business too when he did it. Most of the wounds are in the back so he must have attacked them from behind. We also found this." She said handing the note up to Elliot, a bit of sadness in her voice. "The three police officers are Jacob Harton, 43, Michael Harton 48, and Nick Johnson, 44."

_Well detectives what did I tell you. No matter who you are and what kind of law enforcement your part of I will get you. Like the lovely lady cop I found with these idiots. I thought we could have some fun before I killed her._

_ Take me seriously yet?_

"We've taken him seriously all along." Elliot said, his anger causing his voice to rise to a dangerous pitch.

"Cool it Elliot. We'll get him." Fin nodded in the direction of the note. "Who's the girl he was talking about?"

"Kelsey Graham. First year on the job. She's only 25. She was Jacob Harton's partner." Warner shook her head. "But if what he says is true I'll bet Olivia is still alive."

Munch snapped open his phone. "Cap'n we've got some new evidence, three more deaths, and another kidnapping…"

--

Her situation was bad. That she knew. She was unable to move due to the bruises and cut covering her body. There was a stab wound on her back she didn't remember getting. IT was bleeding heavily and the pain… the pain was terrible. Olivia rolled over as much as her arms, trapped above her head, allowed her to. Her wrists were bloody and bruised from being rubbed against the handcuffs. The handcuffs. Her handcuffs. The realization hit her suddenly. A humorless laugh escaped her lips. Trapped with her own handcuffs.

She froze suddenly. Somebody was approaching but the footsteps sounded odd… stairs. He was walking down stairs. Silently she counted. One…two…three…four…five…six. Six stairs. Six stairs and 16 step . He walked down six stairs and took sixteen steps to get to the door to her room.

'Hey princess guess what." The man entered his room ignoring the venomous looks she shot him. "I found a new friend."

Olivia was shocked. The girl who was thrust into the room had to still be in her twenties. She was obviously an officer because she was wearing her uniform. It was torn and bloody.

"You two play nice." He tied the officer to the chair and left the room. Olivia waited. 16 steps… 6 stairs… and a door slammed.

"D-detective Benson." The woman stuttered looking over Olivia's disastrous appearance. Based on what she could see Olivia shouldn't be alive. Much less awake. She had lost so much blood.

Haha please review. 7 review and I update. 


	4. Chapter 4

"What's your name

"What's your name?" Kelsey looked up into Olivia's eyes and fought the urge to laugh. This woman, beaten and probably raped was worried about her well being.

"Kelsey Graham." She fought to keep her voice under control. She wanted to sound strong, she couldn't appear weak to the strong but hurt woman who was currently tied to the bed in front of her.

"Are you hurt?"

"Not too bad. Why did he bring us here?" Kelsey could see from the look in detective Benson's eyes that she really didn't want to know the answer.

"I don't know." Olivia lied. "How did you know who I was?"

"Well only all of Manhattan is looking for you." Kelsey tried not to laugh and told Olivia the whole story.

Olivia's eyes widened in shock. "When did they notice I was missing?"

"Three days ago."

"Okay. Well I've been here for six days so that means nobody discovered my absence until three days after he took me." Olivia pondered this fact. " I really need to get a life outside of work."

Kelsey looked at Olivia and saw the two parts of her. The part of her that was a woman, human like anybody else, and the part of her that was a cop. She could tell just by looking at her that detective Olivia Benson was in pain. She opened her mouth to say something.

"shhhh. Here he comes." Olivia closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

The door to the room opened to two men. One was the one who had dragged them both here. Dragged them into the hellish experience that, if it didn't kill them, would haunt them both for the rest of their lives. The other one could have been his brother. They definitely looked alike.

"Good. My two favorite bitches. Right where I left them." He smile while his friend/brother looked worried, as if he didn't really want to be involved.

"Didn't have much of a choice now did we?" Olivia was angry. Angrier than she had been in a long time.

He just smiled as he pulled out the now all to familiar knife. But instead of going toward Olivia he turned to Kelsey. She sat perfectly still as he cut her free of the chair and took her with him out of the room. Her eyes never left Olivia. Pleading eyes, sad eyes.

Now it was just Olivia and the second unknown man.

"So how'd you think your going to like prison." Olivia could see the uncertainty in his eyes. "You know that's what's going to happen." Olivia paused fighting for breath. "If you stop now you'll only be charged as an accessory."

"No." He said it simply, like he was stating a fact "I can't. He'd kill me. Better you than me.

Olivia was now fighting the overwhelming urge to fall into darkneeswith all her energy. She closed her eyes. Several seconds later she heard the door open and strong hands picked her up.

--

"Any new leads?" Casey entered precinct 1-6 to see sad faces. "What is wrong with you guys. Olivia could still be out there. He could be hurting her."

Elliot was looking down at something and Casey walked over to see what it was. She was shocked to see the tears falling down his face. She took it from him. A small gasp of fear escaped her lips.

_My dear Olivia and I had so much fun but she just didn't cut it. You'll find her body if you follow the trail with Smoke at the start._

_ She sends her regards_

The note was written in blood, as if somebody had drug the tip of a pen through a puddle of blood. This was sick. No not just sick, horrible, twisted, and cruel.

"Follow the smoke…"

"Captain we've got another dead cop. His name was Chester Smoke…" Fin paused realizing what he had just said. "Oh god."

Cragen rushed out of his office. "Everybody get in cars. NOW."

They reached the scene of the crime in record time. Elliot looked down at the unfamiliar face. The eyes filled with a horror they would never understand. His arm was broken and the other one lay on the ground, his finger pointing out into the woods. His arm was cut in so many different places you couldn't even tell how many times because of all the blood.

All of the detectives stood around the body, unable to move, unable to think, unable to register what they were seeing.

Its short I know. I'll keep working on it. R&R 7 reviews and I'll update


	5. Chapter 5

Guys I am so sorry for leaving you hanging like that

Guys I am so sorry for leaving you hanging like that. It'll never ever happen again. Hopefully. Haha sorry about the cliffy

Once again they're not mine

Olivia felt it. She could feel newest cut in her shoulder. The sharp paint adding to her already battered body.

_I'm going to die._

She could hear him leaving. The twigs break as he walked over to her. She could feel him place her NYPD badge in her hand.

_I need to wake up. I need to do something._

But she couldn't. She couldn't move. The man, the evil man who had tortured her, raped her, hurt her was just driving away. She sighed and let the swirling darkness take her. Anything but the pain.

--

Cragen was the first to see her. All of the detectives had taken off running when they realized what why the cops arms pointed to the woods. They knew this man was evil but seeing his honorary daughter laying so still chilled his bones.

The first thing Cragen thought was oh god we lost her and he froze. He wasn't ready. There was no way they were losing her.

Elliot ran up behind Cragen and yelped upon seeing his unmoving partner. "Oh god… oh god Olivia." He was crying and by her side in seconds. His hand felt for a pulse without thinking. Even covered in bruises she was beautiful. There it was, a pulse. His heart skipped a beat. It was faint but there.

"10-13 we have a cop down get a bus down here. Now." Fin's voice came across the radio.

Rationality took over. It was as if Cragen was watching somebody else controlling his body. "Somebody put pressure on the wound." Cragen was worried. Looking down on one of his best detectives right now he could lose it, or he could save her. He wanted to save her, so badly.

Munch kneeled by her side. The stab wound was in her left shoulder. 'If all of this blood came from here…" Munch said pointing to the blood staining the area around the gaping hole in Olivia's shoulder with the hand that wasn't currently covering the wound. "Then where did this come from?" He pointed to the blood on her right side; it was right above the hip.

They could now hear the sirens.

Cragen gently moved Olivia's arm and heard her moan. Everyone froze and looked at her face. She moaned again then went silent. The silence scared them most.

"Liv… Liv honey can you hear me?" Elliot pulled her head up into his lap.

"There's a stab wound…"Cragen had to take a deep breath before going on. "It looks deep but old. Maybe two or three days. It's not bleeding."

Elliot looked up into his captains eyes. "She has to make it." The pain was etched on his face.

--

"Cragen?" All the people in the waiting room looked up at the voice. It had been three hours since they had found Olivia, Three hours since they had seen what that sonofabitch had done to her, and three hours since she had gone into surgery.

"Yes. How is she?" Cragen jumped up. This waiting was killing them. It was more than they could take, seeing one of their own suffer like this.

"Are you family." The nurse had to ask.

"We're all the family she's got."

"How is she?" Elliot looked up into Cragen's eyes and the captain's heart broke. Elliot had not said a word since telling him that Olivia had to make it. As captain he could tell that if he lost Olivia now he would lose most of the squad with her. They loved her like a sister, a daughter, and Elliot… Elliot loved her as something more. He shook his head to clear them of these thoughts. Not now, he had to be strong. Strong for Olivia, strong for everyone.

"She is stable. She had two broken ribs, a class E concussion, stab wounds on the back and shoulder, her left wrist is broken, and she is extremely dehydrated." The nurse paused at the look on these peoples faces. She could tell without knowing these people that Olivia Benson was really important to them. "I-it should be a while before she wakes up. You may go in and see her if you wish."

They all nodded. Detectives Munch, Tutuola, and Stabler as well as Captain Cragen and ADA Cassey Novak had sat in that waiting room for hours waiting for the news that would either bring them together or rip them apart.

"It's room 201. Follow me." The nurse nodded and everyone followed her. When they got to the door she stopped them. "I-I thought I should let you know that Olivia would not allow us to take her into surgery unless we did a rape kit." She paused at the stricken look on everyone's faces. "And she was only awake for a moment."

Everyone was silent as they looked down at the woman on the bed. They were in a half-circle surrounding the bed. It was as if they could protect her, just from standing there. The look on the detectives faces were so protective it was almost like an older brother protecting a little sister. They were a family.

Detective Olivia Benson was in bad shape. That they could easily see. There were dark purple bruises covering her arms and wrists. There was a long cut on her forehead that curved around her left eye. Wires and tubes stuck out of her from all sides. Then there was the cut on her neck. The cut that was perfectly placed over the existing scar of a case everyone wanted to forget…

"She fought like hell…"Casey sat on the edge of the bed, her voice was small.

"She's strong. She'll beat this." Cragen sounded sure of himself but, if anyone had looked, they would have seen the pure panic in his eyes. A knot formed in his throat as he looked down at the broken and beaten body of one of his best detectives. "And we will catch this guy."

Everyone looked at the captain who had been able to cover up the panic, just in time. They looked hopeful. "Somebody should stay here always in case she wakes up…" Fin tried to cushion the blow knowing that comment would hurt Elliot. He was not surprised when Elliot winced.

"I'll stay with her for a while. You guys should go check the lab, see if they found anything." Casey did not look at Elliot when she said this, knowing what his reaction would be.

"but…"

"No Elliot we need you to help us find the guy who did this to her." Cragen gave him a do-as-I-say look.

The detectives nodded and after shooting some sad looks at Olivia filed out of the room.

"It'll be all right Olivia. You're a fighter." Casey whispered. She was trying to convince herself more than anything.

--

"It's true. She fought like hell." Warner couldn't help giving that thought a sour smile. "We got the blood test back on the blood found on her hands."

"It wasn't hers?" Munch couldn't keep all the surprise out of his voice.

"No. It looks like she scratched him, or more like broke his nose. There was a lot of blood. We have his DNA but he's not in the system. We also found skin cells under her nails."

Fin nodded thoughtfully. He was glad that Olivia had got a piece out of that ass-hole and especially glad that she had managed to make him bleed but his DNA wasn't in the system. This guy couldn't be a first timer. "Wh-what about the rape kit?" Fin flinched when he said those words.

"No fluids."

Ten minutes later Munch and Fin were walking away from the lab, exactly where they had started. Neither of them could help but think about all the sick things this guy had done to Olivia. It was these thoughts that made them show up at the office, having not slept in over 36 hours, and having barely eaten.

Cragen watched the two detectives enter his office. They looked like hell, no, they looked like they had been to hell and back. He sighed. "John, Fin, sleep, now."

"But… the case. Olivia." Munch stuttered trying, and failing, to look awake and well.

"There have been no recent breaks in the case and you two will be no help half asleep. Elliot is already asleep."

Fin and Munch left the room. "Betcha Elliot threw a fit about having to sleep." Munch whispered on their way out.

--

Two days. It had been two days and Olivia still hadn't woken up. Another detective had been killed. He was FBI this time and everyone was going into a panic. The whole city feared this serial killer.

Casey was looking at Olivia. She showed no signs of life besides the clenching and unclenching of her fist. Casey watched with relief as Olivia fought to wake up. They had started to fear the worst.

_Damn how long have I been asleep. Kelsey…_

Olivia fought the overwhelming darkness. She wanted to wake up. No, she needed to wake up. She had somebody who she needed to help, if it weren't for that fact she might just let the darkness take her.

_Kelsey I'm coming. Please still be alive._

Olivia's eyes fluttered open and she stared at the ceiling for a split second before letting her eyes sweep the room in a panic, did he move her again?

_Where am I?_

Then her eyes fell on Casey. She looked upset and unsettled. Olivia sat up. "C-Casey?"

"Olivia. Thank God you're okay." Casey rushed to Olivia's side and sat beside her. "We were so worried."

"Where's K-Kelsey?" Olivia struggled to breath but was failing.

"Honey lay down. You broke some ribs so it'll be harder to breathe when you're sitting for a while." Casey gently pushed Olivia back onto the pillow. "Now. Kelsey who?"

"Kelsey. The cop who was with me."

Casey's eyes widened. He kept them in the same room? He tortured them together?

"You didn't find her did you…" Olivia looked sad. "Damnit."

Casey looked worried. She didn't want Olivia hurting anymore but she couldn't just not tell her about the other vics…could she…

"I'm going to call Cragen and tell him you're up. That okay?"

"Jeez Case I'm not going to break if you leave me alone for a second." Olivia winced at the way Casey was talking to her. It was like when they talked to victims. In fact it was exactly like when they talked to victims because she was a victim now.

"Captain… mhmmm… yeah she just woke up… Okay." Casey turned and walked back in the room to see Olivia tracing the bruises on her left wrist with her right hand.

"They were my handcuffs." She sighed. She hated being weak, she hated being vulnerable but most of all she hated being pitied.

They talked quietly for a while. Olivia never revealed too much of what had happened to her. She described the guys who had taken her. Then she described his friend who could be his brother but every time Casey asked about what happened to her she redirected the question. She didn't want them to know. She didn't want to be weak. She wished that if she didn't talk about it, it never happened.

"Liv." Elliot entered the room slowly.

"Hey El." Olivia looked Elliot over quickly coming to a quick conclusion. "You need to get more sleep."


End file.
